The present invention relates to bleeder valves or vent valves and more particularly to a bleeder valve having an internal drill that automatically cleans the gas escape orifice and provides a lower bleed rate than traditional bleeder valves.
A bleeder valve or vent valve is a valve connected to a pressurized container that, when released, permits the gas in the container to bleed or leak slowly out of the container. A typical bleeder valve includes an outer annular housing or valve body and an inner plug or valve member or adjusting screw that screws into the housing. The housing screws into an opening in a pressurized tank, and the valve member screws into the housing. A small opening, or orifice, in the housing permits the gas to escape from the interior of the pressurized container when the valve member is at least partially released. One problem with such valves is they become clogged from time to time and the orifice has to be cleaned out. Normally, it would be desired to have the orifice as small as possible, so the bleed rate would be as low as possible. When the orifice becomes clogged, however, it is usually necessary to clean the orifice using a conventional drill. The drill bit employed for cleaning out the orifice has to be large enough so that it will not break frequently. Because the orifice has to be substantially the same size as the drill bit, the orifice has to be correspondingly larger than would be optimum for a slow bleed rate in order to accommodate the larger drill bit. Additionally, cleaning out a clogged orifice with a conventional drill is generally cumbersome and inconvenient.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved bleeder valve wherein the valve member includes an integral orifice cleanout drill that decreases the bleed rate of the gas and cleans the orifice without the need to drill out the orifice with traditional drilling methods.